This For That
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day six hundred and eleven: As a thank you to Rachel for helping him, he offers up his services as a duet partner.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 29th cycle. Now cycle 30!_

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><p><strong>Hear that little bird twitter!<strong> _Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then yesterday decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!_

**_Check out gleekathon on twitter for the song listing on today's story_**

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><p><strong>"This For That"<br>Sam & Nell, Sam/Rachel  
>Sequel to "She's my Sweetheart" <strong>

Ever since that day when he'd run into Rachel at the mall and she helped him shop for clothes for Nell, he had been thinking he owed her. He had helped her find a present for her cousin, yes, but he still wanted to do something else for her. She had gone out of her way and provided this help for her, something for which he just couldn't express enough gratitude, and the present hunt had not been that long, so he'd been trying to figure out how to remedy to it.

And then it came to him, so simple he couldn't believe he hadn't considered it… He could just offer himself up as a duet partner. He knew how much she liked to perform, and sometimes she would do duets, so she might like this.

As Glee practice had been winding down that day, she was standing at the piano, speaking to Brad. Sam got up from his chair, pulling his bag on his shoulder, slowly, waiting. When he saw she was about done, moving to leave, he directed his steps to come and walk at her side. "Hey, can I talk to you about something?" he asked. She looked over as he spoke, smiling.

"Sam! Sure," she nodded.

"Well, it's just that I was thinking… That was really nice, what you did for me… and Nell… with the clothes and everything."

"Oh, no problem," she insisted. "I was happy to do it." He smiled.

"So I really wanted to do something back for you, to say thank you." She moved to talk, and he knew what she'd say. "No, I know I helped with the present for your cousin, but I wanted to do more." She blinked, pleasantly surprised.

"You don't have to, really, but…" she trailed, and he could see despite herself she couldn't ignore the curiosity to find out what he had in mind.

"How about I offer myself, to you, as a duet partner?" The moment the word 'duet' was spoken, her curiosity had tripled, like she had already begun to assess what he would bring to a duet, which songs would benefit from this presence… and then it came to her.

"Well… You know… I think I might actually have something. I've been wanting to do it for a while, but I think I've been holding off on it until now. I think with your… comedic talents as well as your leading man capabilities, this may be exactly what I've been waiting for," she went on, fuelled to the brim with creative juices. He still had difficulty keeping up with her when she got like this, which was a whole other side to the excitement he'd seen in her when she'd helped pick clothes for Nell, but he did his best.

"Great," he just bowed his head. "When do you want to do this?"

"You can come over to my house tomorrow after class and we can prepare to present next time in Glee Club," she went on, then paused, maybe realizing she was going fast. "Is that alright?"

"I'll be there," was his response, and she was back to smiling.

The next afternoon, before going to Rachel's, he went home, so he could at least spend some time with Nell before he had to go. He found her napping in her crib, and he picked her up very carefully so not to wake her. He walked around with her in his arms, knowing so long as she could hear his heart beat she could go on sleeping. He went looking for his mother, finding her in her room… getting dressed up?

"Where are you going?" he asked, whispering. She looked over at him, stopping midway through putting on her shoes.

"Lisa's had to take some time off. She fell off her bike and twisted her ankle. So I picked up one of her shifts," she explained.

"But I thought you were going to watch Nell," he continued.

"When did I say that?"

"Yesterday, remember? I asked you when I got home."

"I'm sorry, I must have misheard you," she apologized. "Can you take her with her?" she asked, and he considered this. He supposed he could; he just didn't want to spring this on Rachel, only now he didn't have a whole lot of a choice.

When the doorbell rang, Rachel hurried along to go answer and was about to say something when she saw that Sam was holding a finger to his lips, begging for quiet, and she saw why. "Hey…" she whispered, stepping aside to let him walk in.

"I'm sorry, there was a mix up and my mother couldn't watch her. I should have called to reschedule," he shook his head, putting down the car seat in which Nell was still sleeping.

"No, don't worry about it," she insisted, although the question did dawn on her. "As for the solo though…" He still looked like he felt bad, but right then, coming to their rescue, Pop passed by.

"You must be…" he started, and both Rachel and Sam made the hush move. Pop's eyes found the baby in the seat. "Sam… And who's this?" he asked, smiling as a parent would.

"Sam's daughter, Nell," Rachel introduced, and from the tone in her voice he guessed she'd already told her father about them.

"I wasn't meant to bring her, but something came up," Sam explained to him as well.

"Oh, well I could keep an eye on her while you two work on your number," he suggested. Rachel looked back to Sam, as though to say 'is that alright with you?'

"If it's not too much trouble," Sam nodded. Pop gave him a smile, and Sam handed the seat over. They watched him go off, whispering to Nell even though she was asleep.

"Right, so… basement?" Rachel turned to Sam, no longer whispering. He agreed, and they went. Rachel presented him with the song and, although he didn't know it at first, once she'd let him hear it, it became familiar. Then when she showed him a clip from a movie, he remembered seeing this with his mother a while back, and he also got the part about his 'comedic talents.' They worked out a bit of the choreography, just as far as where they would stand, and when they would move… He had her laughing in an instant, as he began to practice his part, and seeing her, like this, it made him laugh, too. He liked when she was just excited, instead of excited and over energized. Her smile was just completely different and… He wasn't sure why he'd started thinking about her smile, but then they heard the basement door open, and he heard the distinct sounds of…

"Sorry to disturb you two, but I think this one wants her father," Pop appeared on the stairs with Nell, awake, in his arms. Sam moved to gather her up, and she beamed the moment she saw him.

"Thanks for watching her," Sam told him.

"No problem. We still had fun, right?" Pop addressed Sam, then little Nell, who batted her arm in response. Now that their duet rehearsal had become a bit of a trio though, Sam had some concerns.

"Are you sure we can do this in front of her? I mean it's not too bad, but some of it might still be a little… age inappropriate?" he pointed out.

"I don't think she's old enough to understand," Rachel told him, and she had to be right. "Besides, she'll just think it's funny. Here…" she moved up with her arms out, indicating he should hand the baby over. When he did, Rachel turned Nell around so she could see him. She was definitely getting better at this, compared to the first time she'd held Nell. "Now she can see you as we go, and you can get her laughing, too," she explained. As usual, she had the right idea. So she started the music, returning into position, swaying ever so slightly with Nell in her arms already smiling, seeing Sam start to move as well. The first part of the song didn't require much more than this.

_[SR] "Love, love is strange (yeah, yeah) / Lot of people (mm, mm) take it for a game / Once you get it (mm, mm) / You'll never wanna quit (no, no) / After you've had it (yeah, yeah) / You're in an awful fix / Many people (mm, mm) / Don't understand (no, no) / They think loving (yeah, yeah) / Is money in the hand / Your sweet loving (mm, mm) / Is better than a kiss (yeah, yeah) / When you leave me (mm, mm) / Sweet kisses I miss"_

There was a longer pause, in the middle, no words, just music, and at least for Nell's benefit, they broke from their planned steps and just danced about to keep her entertained, with Sam digging in his arsenal of funny faces, making both Nell and Rachel laugh. As they neared the second part of the song though, Rachel moved to sit on a nearby chair, Nell in her lap, looking innocent as Sam stood at a distance, though still in his daughter's line of sight. They slipped into character, Rachel managing to keep a straight face this time, but just barely.

_[S] "Sylvia..."_

_[R] "Yes Mickey?"_

_[S] "How do you call your loverboy?"_

_[R] "Come 'ere loverboy!"_

_[S] "And if he doesn't answer?"_

_[R] "Ohh loverboy!"_

_[S] "And if he STILL doesn't answer?"_

_[R] "I simply say / Baby, / Oohh baby / My sweet baby / You're the one"_

On the last part, Rachel rose again, approaching Sam as he approached her, and Nell was handed off to him as he held his arms to her, so he could go on dancing about, this time with her near him.

_[SR] "Baby, / Oohh baby (yeah, yeah) / My sweet baby (mm, mm) / You're the one"_

When the song ended, Nell was laughing, and they took it as a good sign. "Did it turn out like you wanted?" Sam asked Rachel. She smiled, nodded. 'Even better,' she thought to herself. "Too bad we can't have her with us when we do it in Glee Club," he told her.

"I think we'll do fine though," Rachel insisted, and he smirked. He'd come to repay a debt to her; now he wasn't sure he wanted them to be even…

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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